What Is Faux Leather?

Written by kate eglan-garton

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Faux leather (leather image by Zbigniew Nowak from Fotolia.com)

Faux leather is not totally artificial. Faux leather does have some leather included in the material make-up, but not enough to be considered real or genuine leather. There are different grades of faux leather, just like real leather.

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Common Names

Faux leather has a variety of different names, all of which mean that it is not true leather. Artificial, leatherette, pleather, man-made leather, synthetic leather, leather-like and Naugahyde all refer to faux leather.

Materials Used

Different polymers are blended with the leather to create a material that is similar to real leather. Vinyl and a type of softener are injected into the leather to create a durable material that still resembles leather. The amount of polymers used determines the grade: the more polymers used, the lower the grade.

Why Faux Leather Does Not look Real

Faux leather will have a shine where real leather has a more satin unfinished look. Authentic leather is always very soft while faux leather has a stiffness because of the vinyl products used.